“My response: surely, no. I do not take it as a trend, I do not agree these laws are reactionary,” he said in an interview with Russian television channels. “When the president, I also approved laws for tighter responsibilities, but you do not consider them reactionary, do you?”

“Judging about the political regime or about what happens in the country should be based on real deeds based on the adopted laws,” Medvedev said. “If they are wrong, if they affect the people’s interests, they should be corrected, but this is not the situation yet. Let us see how these laws are used.”

“Besides, we all know our attitude towards legislation,” the prime minister said. “It goes back in history: we have announced laws repressive and anti-liberal so that not to observe them, so that to have a sort of reason to breach them. But we should abide by the laws.”

“Any political figure, even if he does not like certain people, should observe laws,” Medvedev said.